A move by the University of Otago to consider disbanding its recently-established shared services division is not an admission a previous effort at making savings was a failure, the university says.
The shared services division was set up in 2017 as part of an effort to streamline the university’s operation by centralising administration staff rather than having them work in separate divisions.
Acting vice-chancellor Professor Helen Nicholson said this week professional staff working in the university’s shared services division have been advised of a proposal to disband it and deliver the services through different reporting lines. Managers elsewhere will be required to increase the number of their direct reports, if the change goes ahead.
Staff members in affected roles have been advised of the proposal, Prof Nicholson said.
The shared services division was set up following a support services review in 2017. It resulted in administrative roles previously embedded within departments being removed and centralised in a shared service. The division was hoped to meet an aim of preventing silo departmental working. Previously, aspects of administrative support activities — such as finance, HR and marketing — were undertaken within departments.
Professional staff at the university who are not in academic roles rose from 2446 in 2017 to 2512 in 2022.
Rising numbers of staff in such roles has previously been attributed by the university to changing environments and the needs of rising numbers of students.
When questioned about whether the planned disbanding of the shared services division meant the 2017 review was a failure, Prof Nicholson said: "Absolutely not. This proposal is driven by financial imperatives and is not a reflection on staff’s abilities and work.
"The centralisation of professional services continues to provide a strong foundation for the future of support services at Otago."
Tertiary Education Union co-president Brandon Johnstone told the ODT "it is interesting to see the shared services division is now being rolled back, and a little frustrating to go to an all-staff forum and be told by the leadership that ‘hindsight is a wonderful thing’, particularly when the union had the foresight to give warnings during the support services review.
"It is now costing jobs and money to reverse the decision."
An initial few comments from union members seemed to indicate this was the right direction to move in, Mr Johnstone said.
Anecdotally, the union had noted higher turnover rates and therefore training costs in roles in the shared services division.
"We are warily watching to see what will happen next," Mr Johnstone said.
"We want to know what the effect will be on workloads."
The disbanding of the shared services division was not a significant change to the shared services model created by the support services review, Prof Nicholson said.
"It is only the structure that shared services is currently embedded in which will change.
"The roles and day-to-day work carried out by shared services staff will remain the same and will only involve a change in reporting line for the most senior staff."
Human resource services were moving to the human resources division, and the student experience team has moved to the academic division.
Under the current proposals, operational finance was moving to the finance services division, which was also subject to a management of change process that was expected to affect a small number of jobs, Prof Nicholson said.
Affected staff were being consulted, she said.
The restructure was one of a "series of management of change processes being undertaken across the university over coming months".
